Spinning
by Sweeite8188
Summary: Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." Morgan struggles as the new leader of the team as a string of related cases unravels the past of the team, spinning them out of control.
1. Prolouge

**So this is a huge project and it's been rattling around in my brain for a long time, so I hope I'm ready for it. (= Please give it a chance. This takes place post 100, and it's slightly AU.**

**~I own nothing. This is for fun, not profit. **

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"So do you want to tell me where this all began?" Strauss snapped, not even attempting to control her temper anymore.

Morgan, on the other hand, was the epitome of calm. After what his team had been dragged through, getting angry about it would help nothing while explaining the mess to Strauss. Truthfully, Derek did not have the energy to be angry at anyone but himself. So much shit had gone down, and he didn't help the situation by making mistake after mistake after mistake. If Strauss was taking anyone down because of this, it was undoubtedly him.

"Well I guess this past January, when we first got the DePinto case." He finally responded.

"No, Agent, I am not referring to the incident involving Technical Analyst Garcia." Strauss yells, the frustration getting the better of her. "I am asking at which point was Ex Agent Greenaway brought in on the investigation of Officer Rexon."

"You say that as if she was investigating with my team, and she wasn't."

"Well then what the hell was she doing at the crime scene where Joshua DePinto was murdered?"

"She was riding along with us when we got the call that DePinto had been murdered." Morgan tried to dismiss this.

"Why was she in your vehicle with you? You said she was a person of interest in the Rexon case." Strauss stared Morgan down, her piercing stare making him think twice about his answer.

Morgan knew why things had gone down the way they had. The team was put in such a strained position that even in hindsight; Morgan didn't understand everything that had happened. But he had to tell Strauss something.

Morgan was done playing games, and he had had his fill of politics. He knew he could only tell Strauss the truth. Morgan chuckled slightly at the thought of the words "Strauss" and "truth" in the same sentence. But, he couldn't think of any other way to spin it. So, here goes nothing...

"Elle Greenaway was in my vehicle because we could not arrest her without setting off a chain of events that would have gotten more people killed." Morgan could see her she was about to object, and he knew what she was going to say.

"And I would have kept her in interrogation, but you know I was alone at head quarters. It was 3 am Sunday morning. No one was due back until 7 and I had one agent who was held against her will, one trapped in Russia tracking god knows what down, another who had been forced to return to Boston, and the last two were at the hospital being treated for burns after a fucking explosion had almost taken them out! That would be why I had to bring Greenaway with me!" Morgan had lost his calm, most definitely. His anger was so out of the blue that it surprised Strauss.

After a long pause, Strauss spoke again with caution. "Ok, so you couldn't detain Ex Agent Greenaway at head quarters, but I still don't understand why you couldn't arrest her to begin with. Is it because of your pa-" Morgan sharply cut her off.

"Agent Reid's and my past relationship with Greenaway is not why she wasn't arrested as soon as she entered the country. Trust me, I wanted to arrest her as much as you did." Morgan spat with disgust.

"Then why?" Strauss pressed fervently.

The truth was getting harder and harder to explain.

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**I know it makes no sense at all, but its the prolouge. I have an entire plan for this and it's going to unravel a bit before it starts to take shape. (= Please review and let me know what you think so far.**


	2. Amber

This is post 100, meaning that Haley is dead and Morgan is the team leader. I have an entire plan for this story but as always I am open to sugjestion. Very rarly does one of my stories actually end where I thought it would. That is part of the reason I love writing these fanfiction stories so much. (=

This chapter jumps around a bit, I know, but I really just wanted to establish to the way I was going to write all of the characters, more for myself, and it kinda turned into its own chapter. Also, each chapter will have one quote from a

**I am not a profiler at all, so all this psychological stuff comes from what I have heard from the show and whatever I found on the web by googling. Also the people and places are completely fictional. The original characters in this story belong to me, and off course our team belongs to CBS. This story is for the sake of writing, not profit. I own nothing. **

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"Maybe we like the pain. Maybe we're wired that way. Because without it, I don't know; maybe we just wouldn't feel real. What's that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop."

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JANUARY 17TH 2010

9:30 PM

FBI H.Q. IN QUANTICO

The bar was dark, crowded and smoky. Though annoying, Derek Morgan didn't mind this. The bodies he had seen today were gruesome and the bar only provided a literal setting of the deep dark hole in which Derek wanted to crawl into.

The only person in the world that could convince Derek to go out with the team after a day like today was Penelope. She had begged and pouted until Derek had no choice but to tag along. The entire team was going, except Hotch. And Derek knew Penelope would not quit until he had agreed to join them. Derek figured he might as well.

He knew Penelope had been just as tortured as he was by this case. Derek thought back to right before they left.

"Hey, baby girl," Derek knocked on her door, surprised to find Penelope still glued to her computer. The case had been wrapped up hours ago. He did not know why she was still looking at the crime scene photos.

"Baby girl, come on. Put it to rest." Derek put his hand on her shoulder, hoping she would snap out of it.

"What? Yea, I'm sorry, I.." she took a deep breath, her face coming back to life, "I came down to turn things off and I just-"

"I know baby girl, trust me. This was a bad one." Derek whispered, not like his words made anything better. But what else was there to say.

"Let's go. Everyone else has left already." Derek says, and Penelope perks up. She gets up and grabs her purse and coat, smiling at Derek as he holds the door open for her.

The car ride was quiet, though half way through Penelope put on some song and started singing with it. Derek chuckled at her. She was so resilient. Derek admired that so much. Doing this job would just wear you down, and Derek wasn't sure how much more he could handle.

The cases are indescribable, especially when they didn't end happily. And now that Derek was the team leader, the pressure increased so much more. The paperwork and all the decisions, each and every one was scrutinized. The intensity is enough to drive any weak mind insane. At this point, Derek was just holding on.

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JANUARY 17TH 2010

9:30 PM

THE BAR

"Who have you been texting?" JJ asked Emily, a smile on her face.

"Oh." Emily is taken by surprise. She looks up from her phone to find JJ staring at her.

"No one." She tries to brush it off.

"Sure." JJ says with a teasing voice.

Much to Emily's relief, Rossi and Reid appear back at the booth with beers for everyone.

"Where's Derek and Garcia?" Rossi questions, putting their drinks down on the table and sitting down next to Emily.

"I don't know." JJ looks around, "I thought they left right behind me."

"Garcia seemed really upset after the case." Reid commented.

"We all are upset. Watching those sons of bitch's rip apart the bodies of those women bothered everyone." Dave pointed out.

"And she had to watch those tapes over and over again. Lay off, Spence." Emily shuttered.

"Yeah lay off, Spence." JJ piped in, taking another sip.

Rossi laughs at Reid's expression. He seemed extremely offended. When this team got a few drinks in them, things went a little wild. It could get a bit dangerous, especially for the poor boy genius.

"I just meant that she didn't seem in much of a partying mood." Reid defends himself.

"You call this a party?" Emily quipped.

JJ and Rossi laughed as Reid got up.

"I need another beer." He muttered.

"Get me one too!" Emily yelled after him, teasingly.

Derek and Penelope arrive just as Emily and JJ have stopped giggling. Derek takes one look at their behavior and knows they're tipsy.

"Looks like we are behind." Derek jokes and Garcia giggles and they sit.

"Here, catch up." Dave pushes the two beers, that were sitting on the table waiting for them, towards the pair.

Reid returned to the table and the entire team, except Hotch who was at home with Jack, had a great time. They swapped stories, poked at each others personal lives and got drunk together. They were able to put to rest some of the images and violence to rest. They probably won't have any nightmares, but because of tonight they will have a hell of a lot less.

During a heated game of 'would you rather', an unfamiliar man came up beside the table. The team was so into their drunken fun, that for once they had forgotten they were out in public and the people that were around them.

"Hi, ugh, can I talk to you for a second?" The strange man stared down at Emily.

Emily looked up at the man with wide eyes. She was shocked. She looked at JJ with that 'oh my god' panic on her face. Derek, weary of this stranger, leaned over the table protectively.

"Do you know this guy?"

"Yeah, ugh, yeah Morgan don't worry about it. I got this." Emily says the right words, but she doesn't sound confident at all.

"Come on, let's talk over here." Emily says to this strange man, getting up and leading him to a booth a good distance away from the table.

"What is up with that?" JJ asks, looking at a timid Emily talk to this strange man.

"Boyfriend?" Reid theorizes.

"Definitely not." Garcia says.

"So an old friend." Derek says.

"I don't know, maybe." JJ comments, still attempting to spy on Emily and this man.

"Ooh how about an estranged lover?" Derek and Reid laugh at Rossi's comment as Garcia glares at Rossi, and JJ smacks his arm. None of them should be poking fun at Emily, she looks so scared talking to this man. JJ really wanted to know what was going on.

Suddenly, JJ sat back down and tried to pathetically pretend she was having a conversation with Rossi all along, because Emily came back to the table. At the same moment, Derek's phone rang.

"I'm gonna go." Emily said, grabbing her purse. Then, with a quick smile, turned away and left with the man.

"Okay then." JJ said, a bit disappointed. This was going to bother her.

Derek hung up his phone, and stood up. "I'm leaving too."

The whole table got up to let Derek and Garcia out.

"Anyway else need a ride home? I'm probably the only one sober enough." Derek offers.

Reid follows him. "Do ya mind?" Reid asks.

"No, not at all man. JJ, Rossi, you guys good?" He offers one more time. Neither should be behind the wheel, yet they both decline again.

The group separates with standard goodbyes. After all, they'd be seeing each other in a little over 8 hours. It's sickening, Rossi thought, just how much time they all spent together.

Rossi chuckled at this and finished off what must have been his 5th beer. He stared at JJ, who was sitting across from him also finishing her drink.

"Don't you have a husband and a baby that want you at home?" Rossi realized.

"You would think so." JJ grimaced. Her response was sarcastic, and not very informative.

"Marital trouble?" Rossi asked.

"Eh, yea kinda." JJ looked down at her cell phone. "He's actually here now, to drive me home." She stumbled awkwardly over her words.

"Do you want a ride home?"

"No thanks." Rossi said.

"Oh come on Rossi, how do plan on getting home?" JJ snorted. It was nights like this that she did thank herself that she did have Will. She was in no condition to walk to the bathroom without a friend to look out for her.

"I'm gonna walk." Rossi got up, grabbing his coat. "I live about four blocks away."

"Really?" JJ asks as he opens the door for her.

"Yea." Rossi responds. He walks JJ out to the parking lot so he made sure she found Will, and then he started his cold walk home.

JJ felt bad that he was walking, but Rossi really enjoyed the brisk cold air and the dark night sky. The walk gave him a chance to think and relax a bit. Well, as much as possible.

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JANUARY 17TH 2010

12:12 PM

WILL'S CAR

"Jen, I don't appreciate this." Will said sharply as he started the car.

"Don't start now Will, just don't."

"I have to get up and wake our son up to come and pick you up at some bar. For god's sake, it's midnight!" Will was frustrated, but he could tell that his wife was so drunk she wouldn't remember this moment in the morning. It's like talking to a brick wall. Useless.

"Will, don't start please. I can't deal with you right now." JJ didn't sound coherent. And Henry wailing in the background didn't help much either.

"You mind getting your son, he's been wanting his mommy all night." Will spat, looking over at his disheveled wife's appearance. He didn't know what was happening with her.

He used to know how she thought and they way that she operated, but now it seems to him like she has completely lost all of that. It's like she's dropped off the grid. She there but he has no clue what she is thinking or why she is doing what she is doing.

Will winced as he realized that this wasn't just going to get better. He needed to do something, needed to try and get through to her. He couldn't loose her, and he prays to God that he already hasn't.

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JANUARY 17TH 2010

12:19 PM

DEREK'S CAR

"Night baby girl." Derek smiles at Penelope.

"Night hot stuff." She winks at him as she closes the door. She's the last person Derek has to drop off and he watches her go into her apartment. It nearly kills him when he sees her walk around the spot where her pool of blood once laid, the place where she had been shot.

The blood had faded but the invisible stain was still very much present in her mind. Derek had hoped she had at least been able to walk to her door by now without still thinking back to that night.

He sighed as he pulled out his phone. He rubbed a few cricks out of his neck as he called back the person who had called him right before he left the bar.

"Hey James."

"Derek. Thank you for getting back to me."

"No problem man. So you were saying you had a casE-" Derek trailed off, not sure where his old friend was going with there conversation.

"Yes, well, it's not really a case. I mean, I'm working off of a hunch." James sounded maybe more tired than Derek.

"Okay.."

"We got four missing persons, no connections between them. And me and my partner, we have been working these cases separately for weeks. And all four of them share some odd details." James explained.

"Like?" Derek asked.

"Like they were all abducted around mid afternoon, in the same neighborhood, and get this: each has been abducted on the third of each month starting in October." He takes a deep breath.

"I thought I was paranoid in December when I first realized the dates, but the same thing happened a few weeks ago on the third of January."

"I don't know man," Derek thought it was compelling but there wasn't enough to connect the disappearances to actually make it a case.

"It's an obvious pattern, and Morgan, if this psycho is still out there then someone else is going to disappear in a couple more weeks man. This neighborhood is terrified, four of their own have just vanished."

"This is really compelling, James." Derek states, not knowing how to let his friend down. James could feel that his friend was not fully convinced yet.

"Man, I need your profiling shit. At this point, I really need any help I can get. I never understood why you went into the BAU, but I've seen what it can do. This neighborhood, they need a miracle. They deserve to know what happened to their family."

"Okay, James. I-" Derek thought a second. "How 'bout you send me the files, and I'll take a look. And you need to try and convince your boss of this theory. If you can make it a case then we can definitely get invited in, and make this a legitimate investigation."

"Thank you, thank you Derek. I appreciate this help so much. I'll send you the files and, just, do me a favor, call me when you get them." James says.

"Yeah man, I'll take a look at them tomorrow." Derek agreed.

"Okay, thanks man, I'll talk to you then."

"Bye James." Derek sighed. There really was no rest for the good guys. What Derek would give for one night not haunted by an open case or the one that got away. He didn't know how much longer he could dredge on without some light of hope at the end of the tunnel.

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JANUARY 17TH 2010

1:52 PM

HOTCH'S APARTMENT

"Daddy, wake up." Hotch heard this and his eyes snapped open. Jack was shaking Hotch's arm with his two tiny hands.

"Hey buddy." He greets his son with a smile.

"You feel asleep daddy, right when the red ranger was about to beat Lord Zed." The 4 year old child explained to his groggy father.

"I'm sorry buddy. I shouldn't have missed it." Hotch got up and turned the lights on in his living room, upset with himself for falling asleep. He looked at the clock on the cable box. 1:30 in the morning. Holy shit, Hotch had been out for an hour and a half. Who knows what his child could have gotten into if he had not been woken up.

Hotch was very mad at himself for even allowing this to happen. He was just so tired, and it was the nanny's night off but that was no excuse. His son could have been hurt.

"It's ok daddy, 'cause the Putties came around and tried stopped the red ranger, but he won anyway." Jack gushed about the Power Rangers, completely unaware of the internal turmoil going through his fathers head.

"That's great buddy. Come on it's time for a bath and then bed." Hotch told his son, turning the t.v. off.

"But daddy!" Jack squealed his normal objections, "just half hour more, please."

As soon as Hotch saw his son's big eyes and his pleading expression, he gave in. He was too tired to tell him no.

"Alright, alright." Jack squealed loudly in delight, and he turned the t.v. back on himself.

Just as Hotch had settled on the couch with his little boy, his phone rang.

"Crap." Hotch muttered. A phone call at 1:45 on a Sunday night was never good news. Hotch got up and went into his kitchen.

"Hey man. I'm sorry I know it's late but-" Morgan trailed off.

"What's up?" Hotch was curious as to what could cause Morgan to call so late at night if there was no case.

"It's- my friend he sent me the files of this case, well it's not actually one case, but my friend he has this theory of how they are connected. And it's so late I feel like I have tunnel vision or something but I swear I agree with him. I mean, it all makes sense accept the victomology-" Hotch cuts Derek off.

"Morgan, slow down. Are you sure you can't pick this up in the morning, maybe after some sleep."

"No, Hotch, man I really can't. This is driving me insane. I really need another pair of eyes. Do you think, if I send them to you, can you just take a look?" Morgan asked.

"Your gonna, what, fax them over now?" Hotch asked confused. Derek's odd behavior was throwing him off.

"Yeah."

Damn, Hotch though, he's really serious about this.

"Okay, yeah, I'll take a look now." Hotch agreed, practically hearing the relief in Morgan's exhale.

"Okay, thanks Hotch. I'm sending them now."

Hotch hung up the phone. He walked back into his living room, seeing Jack out like a light on the couch. He smiled and carried the boy into his bedroom.

Hotch only thought one thing as he heard his fax coming through from the other room: Whatever files had Morgan this worked up, they were most definitely going to turn into one hell of a case.

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**Thank you for anyone who read this (: I hope it was enjoyed, and please review. I wanna know whatcha think, the good the bad or the ugly. **

**The quote from the top of the chapter was said by Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy. **

**tbc..**


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